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Well, this is a first. We’ve seen flash mobs do just about every kind of dance imaginable, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen a flash mob play hockey—until now.

It happened on Sunday in Toronto, at one of the biggest shopping malls in Canada. Two guys (who happened to be carrying hockey sticks) in a bustling crowd of shoppers walked up to each other and started playing hockey. Then a few more joined in. Then a few more. Then a referee showed up. And, before you knew it, there was a full fledged floor hockey game going on in the middle of the mall.

So what was the deal?

Well, the flash hockey mob was organized by Canadian sports network Sportsnet. It was a publicity stunt for their “We Love Hockey” campaign, which is trying to get NHL fans everywhere to sign their “We Love Hockey Petition,” imploring the NHL and NHLPA to come to an agreement and save the 2012-13 NHL season.

Here’s the text of that petition:

We, the undersigned, are The Fans.

We are The Fans who faithfully catch every play, every highlight, every fight, every goal, every victory, every defeat.

And we, The Fans, don’t want to miss a minute of our passion.

And so we, The Fans, are signing this petition to respectfully ask the NHL and the NHLPA to think of us this season and bring back the game we love, that you love, that Canada loves.

And on November Second, of the year Twenty Twelve, we The Fans will deliver this petition to the NHL and the NHLPA to show you our support for hockey because we, The Fans, love hockey.

And of course, here’s the video of the hockey flash mob at Yorkdale Mall. It’s actually kind of awesome:

Of course, there is a little bit of irony in all this. You see, Sportsnet is owned by Rogers Communications, and Rogers Communications also happens to be the majority (37.5%) owner of the NHL’s richest and most powerful franchise: the Toronto Maple Leafs. So a sports channel owned by a company in a position to help bring an end to the lockout is telling fans to write to that company and beg them to end the lockout?

Hey, here’s an idea guys! Why don’t you cut out the middle man (the fans) and just fire off an email to your overlords at Rogers asking them to step in and end the lockout!

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